"Aunt" Invasion!

OK, we just had one aunt here this time, but she made a grand impression! Last Thursday,"Aunt Katie" (one of my college roommates) came to spend the day with us and we had lots of fun with her! We went to the library, hit the outdoor mall, had lunch out, played outside, and then had dinner (and ice cream!) with T that evening before Katie had to head back home. And Aunt Katie got to read several stories and dance around the family room a few times, too (no visit to our house would be complete without these events, surely)! The girls were glad to spend some time with her, and of course it was a special treat for me to get to catch up with her, also. Thanks for coming to visit, Katie! Pat-a-cake!
Happy hugs!

Keeping Cool in the Pool

We finally got a backyard pool last weekend and jumped right in. Fun for the girls, and a nice way to keep cool for the big Mama! This just may be one of the last photos of them both fitting on my shrinking lap!

LL's New Nurturing Side...

In the last few weeks LL has gotten interested in taking care of her dolls...she rocks, feeds, shushes, strolls, pats backs, assesses diaper status, and wraps them in blankets with great care...well, until something else gets her attention, like the bubbles we were blowing this morning, and then baby got dropped like a hot potato! But this is definitely a step in the right direction, considering that there's about to be a real baby around who needs lots of TLC! And when baby's taken care of, she knows how to take a break and find some refreshment for herself...straight from the teapot! (No, she hasn't seen me do this...not exactly, anyway.)

Hope you have a refreshing weekend yourselves!

Three and One-Third (Almost!)

The weeks seem to be flying by, and we are rapidly approaching some pretty big events in our family! What months ago was going to happen "at the end of the summer" is now just weeks away. Next Tuesday we will reach the 36 week mark for this pregnancy, so we truly are now in the homestretch (and I feel that so literally!), and anticipation is building for us all as wel look forward to meeting this new little sister.

Next Thursday AG will be a third of the way past her third birthday, and she will soon be starting some fun new activities just as she reaches a new level of big sisterhood! She's going to be taking dance lessons starting Aug. 13...we signed her up and met her teacher this week, and AG was excited to try on ballet and tap shoes and said she wanted some "that tap really loud." Then just after Labor Day she will start going to preschool three mornings a week... what a big step! We've been talking about this for months and she seems to be looking forward to it, and I am hoping it will be a good thing for us all since it will give her something fun to be a part of as we are adjusting to having a new baby around. But all of this together, combined with the undeniable ways she shows me each day that she is truly entering little girlhood, make me wonder where the time has gone! This is what I found her doing during rest time a few weeks ago: She was "reading" to all her babies, and sometimes I stand at the door and overhear her giving them singing lessons ("Doe a deer" is her favorite and I'm sure the imaginary chorus is beautiful as all the dolls sing it together!).

Here she is rocking away on the horse my Daddy and Grandaddy made before I was born:
And here she is having a picnic with her dolls just yesterday.

She's one of a kind, just like LL, and we are looking forward to seeing just how this new little one fits into the family picture of personalities, too!

Tenderness Twirling...

"Baby woman, tiny in stature now

But your heart is a treasure

Little princess come follow behind me now

I am reaching for you

Elliana, God has answered my prayers

Elliana, God will conquer my fears

To mother a daughter, to look you in the eye

To know that I had everything, to walk with you in life

To give you to Jesus that He would impart

The wisdom that I’m longing for to mother your heart

Elliana, God has answered my prayers

There will be others to lead and to guide you girl

But only one you’ll call Mother, the honor is all mine

To show you what a woman’s like

I’m so glad you’re mine

Tenderness of God is twirling around

In our living room tonight

Lighten up your daddy’s eyes

And know that he just wants to freeze you in time"

~~These are the lyrics to Watermark's "Elliana's Song." I have seen the line about "tenderness of God twirling around our living room tonight" on another blog I read for several months, but this picture of AG inspired me to look up the rest of it. Even though I haven't heard it sung, it captures so well my thoughts and feelings about being a mom to little girls.

~~Hope you all have a wonderful day as your week gets underway, and that you see God's tenderness twirling around you today!

Final Four Road Trip

Over the weekend we headed out for what, Lord willing, was our last road trip as a family of four. We hit two sets of grandparents for twenty-four hour visits on this whirlwind tour and, as usual, they packed the time with fun and special treats!

The first stop was T's parents, where Nana keeps the Bose hot with a mix of Broadway tunes and "little girl music" (which, until last week, were the only two musical genres AG would listen to...but after attending a performance of a Cinderella ballet, she now also accepts "ballet music," known to us as classical). Here's LL taking a spin on the dance floor with Nana:
We all looked forward to a swim while we were there and thankfully caught a few minutes between sunrise and the expected rain shower on Saturday morning for the girls to hit the pool with Grandpa. Here they are checking out a roly poly with Grandpa after the rain stopped:
The girls loved lunch...pepperoni pizza and fresh strawberry milkshakes! Thanks for a great time, Nana and Grandpa!

Saturday afternoon we went on to Gran and PopPop's house and enjoyed some outside playtime and the usual "parade of trains" that the girls have come to expect there, since they live just a few houses from the railroad tracks. Here they are watching one of the many pass by:

We had a snack on the front porch (see LL's pesto pic below!) and explored and played. We came across a box of my old books, everthing from ones I loved as a little girl to novels I read in my Senior English class, and read a few (see below). LL for some reason latched onto Lord of the Flies...needless to say it'll be a while before we attempt to read that one with her! That night, AG slept upstairs for the first time in my old bedroom! It was quite a step for her and we were all very proud (and glad because this will make accommodating a newborn easier next time we visit!). Sunday after church, Gran and PopPop took us to lunch at the restaurant where T's and my rehearsal dinner was held. This was really special...it was the first time T and I have been back together since that night almost 6.5 years ago, and although the place hadn't changed, it was neat to realize how much our lives had changed since then and to be there with our expanded family!
Sunday afternoon AG and LL's great aunt and uncle came to visit and we all had cookies and homemade ice cream...our first of the summer...what a treat! Thanks, Gran and PopPop, for a fun visit!

So now here we are, back at home, settling in to await the arrival of baby sister sometime in the next 6 weeks. I am hoping the urge to nest will strike me soon, because for now, lying on the couch reading or sleeping whenever the girls are asleep is way more appealing than any of the sewing, cleaning, or scrapbooking projects I really hope and need to get done before she arrives! We'll see... Hope y'all have a good week!

One & Three-Quarters!

Where did this talking, climbing/dancing/running, self-feeding toddler come from? LL is 21 months old today...how time has flown!

We moved almost a year ago with an easygoing "baby" who crawled and tolerated baby food, and now we have a bubbly, chattering, entertainer who wears ponytails, sings entire songs, and constantly reminds us that she can do things her"seff"! In the last few weeks she has started counting out loud, singing the ABCs, and saying a few nursery rhymes pretty well, and her favorite songs include several that the ladies in the church nursery sing every week... which have fun motions that LL really gets into!

Of course her budding independence and will also bring opportunities for a variety of interactions with her sister, and LL seems to like to get her hands into AG's food, toys, and hair (with a pull!) so we are having to referee more squabbles and discipline more these days. Thankfully though, at this point, they both let things go pretty quickly and enjoy having hug fests a lot more, it seems. LL wants to repeatedly go to AG and her Daddy for one "more kiss" throughout our bedtime routine, and, best of all, she still snuggles with us, likes to rock, and seems like my baby!

Here are a few more recent photos:
Reading Curious George to a few lucky dolls and animals...

Trying hard to fill Daddy's shoes...

Discovering a taste for pesto at Gran and PopPop's...

and displaying her picture "smile" for the camera after swimming at Nana and Grandpa's. She smiles (her real smile!) alot, and we absolutely can't get enough of her sweet dimples! On that topic...last week we were rehearsing each other's facial features and when I pointed out LL's dimples, AG said, "I don't have dimples...I just have teeth!" Guess we can't all be so lucky, huh?

Hard to believe our "little one" is about to be a big sister herself! Baby girl #3 will be blessed to have plenty of helping hands and entertainment, no doubt!

A Fun First...

This morning I took the girls out for a big event...their first movie in a theater. I found out they show kids' movies free during the summer a few mornings a week and figured it was worth a shot, even though I didn't expect to make it through the whole thing due to a certain little sister's still-short attention span. Well, we got there early and waited in a theater full of kids for the big moment (with AG asking all kinds of questions about who starts the movie and if it had started yet)... and finally "Happy Feet" came on and of course captured both AG and LL's complete attention for at least 15 minutes. Then LL started to get a little restless and wanted to get down from my lap, sit in the seat beside me (one of about 2 that was open in the whole room), say "PING-ONE!" repeatedly, rock the seat in front of us, sit on the step in the aisle, play peekaboo with me from behind the armrest, walk up and down the steps, introduce the girl behind us to her baby doll...and so after about 45 minutes I made the pretty obvious call that we'd had enough of the movie and needed to get our own little one with "happy feet" out of there. AG liked it but didn't seem to mind making an early exit. Overall, a pretty successful first try, all things considered!

Sunday morning we had a special treat...well a few, actually. Not only did we get to go to church, but Gran and PopPop joined us on their way back from a weekend trip and came to church with us, and then took us to lunch at a place that prides itself on doing ONLY chicken fingers, but doing them right! As you can see, 2 girls + 2 grandparents + lots of yummy chicken, fries, and ketchup (the power of which cannot be underestimated for a toddler!) = 1 good time!LL had an appetite and the mouth to go with it!

AG with Gran after lunch... how did AG end up with such a clean face?

Ketchupy LL models a cap and checks out her own little chicken fingers.

Smiles all around!

"Are they twins?"

This is the question we have been hearing more and more over the last few months. It always kind of surprises me, since I think they look so different, but apparently those who don't know them see a great resemblance, despite AG being much taller and having hair that's at least twice as long as LL's! And though that's the case now, in the months to come I expect LL will catch up in some ways that will make the sisterly resemblance seem more twinlike than ever.

Happy clappers!

And below, checking out flowers in the matching dresses Gran and PopPop brought them from Hawaii.

I took this one this morning during one of the many happy sisterly moments they share. They really are sweet together most of the time...

A Few More Vacation Memories...

What's better than Blue Bell cookies and cream? Having it in cones with good friends while on vacation at the beach! AG, LL, and Aubrey enjoyed this treat out on the balcony after supper...well-covered by bibs since they were bathed and in pajamas already!

AG, LL, John, and Aubrey played in the sand beside the mountain of seaweed!
LL also enjoyed the pool...

and AG discovered a "shell phone" on the balcony!

Here's another shot of our littlest sweet girl with her sweet treat:
Pure sugary delight!

Girls' First Trip to the Beach!

Over the weekend we went to Galveston to meet some good friends for a beach getaway. It was our girls' first time at the beach, and fun was had by both, although their reactions were as different as their little personalities! Above, stopping at the end of the boardwalk before hitting the sand!
AG was a little unsure of all that water that kept trying to get on her feet, not to mention the clingy wet sand! The first day, we got to the water's edge and she wanted to be picked up with every approaching wave. These pics were taken on the second day, when she decided to stop far from the water for a little playtime in the sand first. Again, her impression of the water is written all over her face:
Even with Daddy's encouragement, AG didn't touch the waves happily until the third day...which I unfortunately didn't capture on camera!

In contrast, this was LL's reaction to the beach:
She went right in and had a ball! She loved running around and playing in the water and sand with her friends and didn't even mind the occasional fall into the shallow water.
Wading with Daddy.